The Testing of Faith
Matthew 9:28–29 (ESV) - 28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”
In reading Matthew 9 this morning in my devotional time I read this passage about faith. At first I was stumped. I know I shouldn’t be but for me, right now, I am living in faith around the consequences of my decision to resign. I resigned in faith believing that laying down my job, career and future was the faithful thing to do. Now, I am clinging to God in the consequences of that decision. There is much anxiety to surrender, fear to conquer and future to lay at Christ’s feet. My “stumpedness” was that the blind men were being called to faith in a different phase of a faith cycle.
Faith is a complex thing. It is holding on to high expectations that God will (Phase 1) act according to His revealed character. It is (Phase 2) making decisions that focus on what is known about God rather than on any other information. It is (Phase 3) clinging unswervingly to Christ in the consequences.
1 Peter 4:12 was the passage I preached this past Sunday and it promised that our faith would be tested. I see, that the testing of our faith is not a single question about our belief in God. The testing of our faith comes in one of the three phases of faith and sometimes in comes to all phases at once.
In which phase of faith are you living today? Where is your faith being tested? Is God testing your faithful expectations of Him? Is He testing your faithful decision making? Is He testing your trust in Him in the outcomes?
